Car clocked at 160kmh in boy-racer crackdown

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Cars clocked at speeds up to 160kmh and 36 people drinking in liquor-ban areas were among the "disturbing behaviours" exhibited by Christchurch boy racers at the weekend, police say.

Other worrying incidents included three boy racers who had their cars impounded for doing burnouts and almost 40 young drivers found breaching the conditions of their driver licences.

The events make up only part of what 34 police officers witnessed during Operation Control on Friday and Saturday nights.

Police are warning similar operations are in the pipeline.

Senior Sergeant Dean Harker, of the Canterbury road policing team, said boy-racer offending was declining, but the weekend highlighted it was still an issue for the city.

"There were a couple of disturbing things that came from the weekend and that was the speed of some drivers speeding on the Southern Motorway," he said.

That included two drivers who had their licences suspended for exceeding 140kmh. Another was clocked at 160kmh, but was not pursued because they were driving on the opposite side of the motorway.

Harker said boy racers, some who travelled from as far away as Temuka, gathered in groups of up to 50 around Christchurch and in areas north of the city and in Rolleston.

Police broke up groups where behaviour was getting out of hand, with one man arrested for wilful damage and assault, and another apprehended for breaking glass.

Harker was concerned about the more than 30 passengers drinking in cars within the Four Avenues, where a liquor ban is in place. Each passenger was issued a $250 fine.

"They are in cars with high-risk drivers due to their age, the driver might not be drunk but having drunk passengers can be a big distraction."

Thirty-six people were found breaching their licence conditions and two people were caught drink-driving.

With 156 infringement notices issued for other offences, including not wearing seatbelts or running red lights, and 14 pink or green stickers issued for unsafe cars, Harker said it was clear future operations would be necessary.

However, Christchurch boy racers said a small group twas tarnishing their reputation.

"A few dickhead boy racers who throw bottles etc and cause trouble are ruining it for everyone else who just wana go out and have some fun like me, it not fair," one person wrote on Facebook.

One boy racer wrote: "Take a legal car out an u can do what we do laugh when they roll us. Its the dick heads with no licence or dodgy cars ruining it for everyone else."